‘Sharenting’: Why Sharing Too Many Photos Of Kids On Social Media Could Be Dangerous

In an era where technology boosts the speed and extensiveness of knowledge turnover within the society, it’s hard to deny the fact that modern technologies such as social media platforms have influenced the human lives. As the digital age continues, the parental phenomenon dubbed as “Sharenting,” where parents share too much details about their children on social media (from conception to toddlerhood) have become rampant online.

Based on a 2010 survey, more than 90 percent of toddlers aged 2 and more than 80 percent of babies in the United States have already established their online presence through various social media sites. It also revealed that many of these kids have debuted online through the ultrasound images their proud parents posted on Facebook but “sharenting” could have some unfavorable effects on them

Even though these baby pictures are adorable and cute, it raises the issues on content, privacy and most especially on the parent-child relationship. According to The Atlantic, even though parents are not sharing their children’s images maliciously, they forget the fact that posting too much information online bring a lot of risks such as digital kidnapping and identity theft.

With that said, experts have been devising a plan to develop a public health campaign that aims to raise awareness on the deep-seated clash between the freedom to publish of parents and the right to privacy of a child. University of Florida’s Levin College of Law and the school’s Center on Children and Families associate director Stacey Steinberg revealed that parents who practice “sharenting” haven’t considered the risks and the potential reach of what they’re sharing online.

Based on Steinberg’s new paper, “Sharenting: Children’s Privacy in the Age of Social Media,” which is scheduled to be published in the Emory Law Journal in the spring of 2017, the author revealed how a child’s social media image could be a target of various threats of safety and security. Steinberg also explained that even with private social media groups or protected accounts could still be vulnerable to a ton of risks such as misuse of images, among many others.

Even though parents only think and do what’s right and true to their children, sometimes it’s virtually unavoidable to be trapped and fall victims to the overwhelming influence of social media and of the digital age, where even the traditional parenting approach become a major paradigm shift.

Aside from “sharenting,” another parenting issue has also emerged regarding parental choice. Based on a blog post published in The Huffington Post, writer/blogger Michelle Grant outlined her experiences as a new mother who faced unwarranted prejudices due to her decision of going back to work while her husband was taking care of their daughter at home.

Grant even asked why it was so easy for people to judge others for the choices they made. She also stressed that parents deserve respect for the choices they made, which they think is the best for them.